Suicide Bag - History

History

The suicide bag was first widely mentioned in Derek Humphry's book Final Exit in 1992, and its use with inert gases mentioned in a Supplement to Final Exit published in 2000.

The "Exit Bag" was described as a large plastic bag with an adjustable velcro strip around the neck area. Different models of the "Exit Bag" were described in Hemlock publications, and the use of helium was specified. Dr. Philip Nitschke has stated that nitrogen has a lower risk of an adverse reaction by the body, but did not specify with regard to what other gas. Nitrogen has been advocated as a replacement for helium not because of reactions to helium, but because due to a "temporary restriction on the availability of disposable Helium in Australia (and New Zealand), helium has been difficult to procure."

The "Customized Exit Bag" was described and briefly marketed in 1995 by the Right-to-Die Society of Canada in its privately distributed book, Beyond Final Exit.. Dr Bruce Dunn wrote about the use of inert gases and a hood in the same volume, and the idea was developed by ERGO.

Dr. Richard MacDonald, the medical director of the Hemlock Society, advised in 2003 that reduced barbiturate availability led to promotion of suicide bags. The Human Life Review reported in 2003 that Caring Friends, a Hemlock Society program, shifted to promoting them as a result and published advertisements stating that "how-to guides such as Final Exit and Departing Drugs also recommend the use of plastic bags for self-deliverance.” Australian doctor Philip Nitschke, a euthanasia advocate, promotes suicide bags with films, such as "Doing it with Betty – in which an elderly woman describes how to make a plastic 'exit' bag", and publishes materials such as workshop handbooks. Nitschke also promotes other related methods such as masks and tents.

The Australian-based euthanasia group EXIT International, attempted to market a manufactured version of the bag in Australia in 2002. Up until that time, "exit bags" were available on the Internet from Canadian right-to-die advocates (The Right to Die Society of Canada) to Australians. Canadians stopped shipping them when the Australian government indicated in 2001 that it planned to review their importation. The bags are known as "Aussie Bags".

In 2007, Canadian press reports indicated that the combination of a bag and inert gas was becoming the most popular method of suicide, but had not led to an increase in suicides. Two years later, four members of the Final Exit Network were arrested in Atlanta, Georgia and charged with assisted suicide in the death of a man who had had disfiguring cancer surgery. Investigators said the organization may have been involved in as many as 200 other deaths around the country. Members of the Network are instructed to buy two new helium tanks and a hood, known as an "exit bag" (suicide bag).

Different methods of bag-making are analyzed and compared in a 2013 publication, Five Last Acts - The Exit Path by Chris Docker.